According to the invention, dilating instruments are used, for instance, in endoscopic ENT surgery for widening a patient's frontal sinus and removing osseous growths in the frontal sinus.
A generic medical dilating instrument is disclosed, for instance, in WO 2008/134288 A2. In a first embodiment of this known dilating instrument, the tool point consists of several lamellae, which are bound together distally and are compressed together by means of the actuating element in such a way that the lamellae widen radially in a balloon-like manner. This construction is especially suited for spreading soft tissue, but the lamellae buckle inward when they are used for removing osseous growths.
According to a second embodiment of this known dilating instrument, the tool point consists of several lamellae that are not bound together on the distal end and can be bent open radially by means of a thickening on the distal end of the actuating element. The disadvantage of this embodiment is that the tool point is open even when the lamellae of the tool point are in the non-spread position, so that tissue can penetrate into the dilating mechanism. In addition, the elastically bendable lamellae allow the user only a limited tactile control in the functioning of the tool point.
In addition, instruments for dilating heart vessels are known that can widen vessels and penetrate through vessel closures. These known medical instruments for widening vessels, however, are only suited for transmitting minor forces, in order to prevent injury to the vessels that are to be widened. These known instruments, however, are not suited for dilating osseous growths such as in the frontal sinus.
On this basis it is the object of the invention to provide a dilating instrument that is of sufficient stability and also allows sensitive actuation.